Funding of €500,000 has been made available for the rollout of a lean principles programmes for pig farmers. The programme is aimed at streamlining pig farms by reducing costs and eliminating waste.

Lean business principles is a management philosophy first developed in Japan in the 1950s. It pursues the continuous elimination of waste in all parts of a business through small and incremental improvement.

The Department of Agriculture has made the funding available following a successful pilot phase that involved 29 pig producers.

Resilience

Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said the pig industry had shown itself to be “remarkably resilient” over recent years. He said lean business principles would further increase farms’ performance and competitiveness without compromising animal welfare or meat quality.

The programme will be available to pig producers in Ireland who are members of the Bord Bia pigmeat quality assurance scheme. Participants will work with a panel of consultants established by Bord Bia and Teagasc.

Costs

Speaking about the initiative, Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy said: “This Lean initiative complements Bord Bia’s pigmeat quality assurance scheme (PQAS) by helping farmers to become more cost and process focused while continuing to meet market requirements and consumer demands.”

Teagasc director Gerry Boyle echoed Minister Creed’s comments on the resilience in the pig sector and added costs of production were critical to survival. He said lean principles had a role in improving this for pig farmers.

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